A self initiated project to design and brand a simple time zone converter iPhone widget. Featured world wide by Apple and picked up by several tech blogs.

The Problem

As an British expat living in UK, I have friends and family in different parts of the world. I also work with international offices. Arranging a time to call different locations was a constant source of frustration. The default iPhone app told you the time in different locations at different times, but what if you were arranging for a call with 3 different locatons at 10am Tuesday next week? You'd have to do the maths and calculate the time for each location.

Prototyping

I started with sketching several ideas. I knew it needed to be small, super simple, and clean. Very early on I decided to build a prototype to explain my idea to my partner, the developer, and to test the usability. The prototype was built in Framer, and the final product was not much different.

The Solution

When Apple allowed access to their widget, giving designers and developers the ability to make apps that would be just a swipe away, it was the perfect opportunity to fix this issue. Klok is always just a swipe away, and with just a few taps you can instantly see the time across multiple time zones.

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Klok is even used by Pilots. The beauty is in the simplicity of the design.

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On-boarding

As the app was a very new idea, I knew that on-boarding was going to be important. People needed to know how to add the widget, and then they needed to know how to use the app. I decided to create a small video that would loop when the app first loads. This would give a subtle suggestion as to how to use the app. Following that I created animated instructions for adding the widget.

Featured on the App Store Globally

Klok was a smash hit instantly. It was featured globally in the first weekend of launch. Over 200,000 downloads in the first weekend and a perfect 5 star rating. It continues to be featured by apple several times in the App Store. It was also featured in several of the global tech blogs including Tech Crunch, Beautiful Pixels and more.

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"Klok just removed another reason to pay attention to the default iOS clock app, which I long consigned to a folder full of redundant Apple apps."